Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Statement Analysis: Ted Bundy's Final Interview

Was Ted Bundy still sociopathic at death? Was he a changed man, or a narcissist with sadistic murderous impulses? Was he truthful about his wonderful childhood? Was his remorse expressed before death genuine? That he spoke to a nationally known religious leader tells us the context: Bundy wants to be seen as a religious convert, a changed man, and he wants the world to hear him. His message is that pornography turned a happy, normal, well adjusted boy into a serial killer. Statement Analysis gets to the truth. Analysis is in bold type.

James C. Dobson: It is about 2:30 in the afternoon. You are scheduled to be executed tomorrow morning at 7:00, if you don’t receive another stay. What is going through your mind? What thoughts have you had in these last few days?

Ted:I won’t kid you to say it is something I feel I’m in control of or have come to terms with.

By telling someone he "won't kid" is an indication that he does not tell the truth.

It’s a moment-by-moment thing. Sometimes I feel very tranquil and other times I don’t feel tranquil at all.

Note that sometimes he does feel "very" tranquil, and at other times:"I don't feel tranquil" with "at all" added. When he is not tranquil "at all", what is he feeling? His language may tell us as we progress through the interview.

What’s going through my mind right now is to use the minutes and hours I have left as fruitfully as possible. It helps to live in the moment, in the essence that we use it productively. Right now I’m feeling calm, in large part because I’m here with you.

He went from "feel" to "mind"

JCD: For the record, you are guilty of killing many women and girls.

Ted: Yes, that’s true.

The word "that" is used and not, "yes, it's true", which indicates distancing from the killing. We look to see if this will continue.

JCD: How did it happen? Take me back. What are the antecedents of the behavior that we’ve seen? You were raised in what you consider to be a healthy home. You were not physically, sexually or emotionally abused.

Ted:No. And that’s part of the tragedy of this whole situation.

That he was raised in a "healthy" home is "part" of the tragedy of "this" (close) whole "situation."

Note that being raised in a good or healthy home is considered to have a portion in the tragedy, but he does not identify what this "whole situation" is.

It may be that the murders of women are in the "whole situation" but this would be very soft language.

It must be kept in mind that he is speaking hours before his scheduled execution.

I grew up in a wonderful home with two dedicated and loving parents, as one of 5 brothers and sisters.

His home was "wonderful" in his words. What do we know about his biography? He was born in Burlington, Vermont on November 24, 1946, at the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers. The identity of Bundy's father remains a mystery. Bundy's birth certificate lists a "Lloyd Marshall", while Bundy's mother, Louise, would later tell a tale of being seduced by a war veteran named "Jack Worthington". Bundy's adopted family disbelieved this story, however, and expressed suspicion about Louise's violent, abusive father, Samuel Cowell. To avoid social stigma, Bundy's grandparents claimed him as their son, giving him their last name; he grew up believing his mother to be his older sister. Bundy would not learn the truth about his parentage until he was in high school.

We, as children, were the focus of my parent’s lives

It would have been interesting to ask him follow up questions first identifying who his "parents" were, and next to ask about their "lives" and then about their "focus."

Note that "we" is defined by him as the "children"

. We regularly attended church.

"We" continues here, attending church. This is said in the positive.

My parents did not drink or smoke or gamble. There was no physical abuse or fighting in the home.

Here he speaks only in the negative, what they did not do:

1. did not drink

2 did not smoke

3 did not gamble

4. did not physically abuse

5. no fighting

What is reported in the negative should always be considered important information. Note that his biography says that his mother was raised by a violent father. This woman, his mother, would be considered his "sister" up until high school, years prior to this interview.

I’m not saying it was “Leave it to Beaver”, but it was a fine, solid Christian home. I hope no one will try to take the easy way out of this and accuse my family of contributing to this. I know, and I’m trying to tell you as honestly as I know how, what happened.

As a young boy of 12 or 13, I encountered, outside the home, in the local grocery and drug stores, softcore pornography. Young boys explore the sideways and byways of their neighborhoods, and in our neighborhood, people would dump the garbage. From time to time, we would come across books of a harder nature - more graphic. This also included detective magazines, etc., and I want to emphasize this. The most damaging kind of pornography - and I’m talking from hard, real, personal experience - is that that involves violence and sexual violence. The wedding of those two forces - as I know only too well - brings about behavior that is too terrible to describe.

JCD: Walk me through that. What was going on in your mind at that time?

Ted: Before we go any further, it is important to me that people believe what I’m saying. I’m not blaming pornography. I’m not saying it caused me to go out and do certain things. I take full responsibility for all the things that I’ve done. That’s not the question here. The issue is how this kind of literature contributed and helped mold and shape the kinds of violent behavior.

JCD: It fueled your fantasies.

Ted: In the beginning, it fuels this kind of thought process. Then, at a certain time, it is instrumental in crystallizing it, making it into something that is almost a separate entity inside.

JCD: You had gone about as far as you could go in your own fantasy life, with printed material, photos, videos, etc., and then there was the urge to take that step over to a physical event. Ted: Once you become addicted to it, and I look at this as a kind of addiction, you look for more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of material. Like an addiction, you keep craving something which is harder and gives you a greater sense of excitement, until you reach the point where the pornography only goes so far - that jumping off point where you begin to think maybe actually doing it will give you that which is just beyond reading about it and looking at it.

JCD: How long did you stay at that point before you actually assaulted someone?

Ted: A couple of years. I was dealing with very strong inhibitions against criminal and violent behavior. That had been conditioned and bred into me from my neighborhood, environment, church, and schools.

I knew it was wrong to think about it, and certainly, to do it was wrong. I was on the edge, and the last vestiges of restraint were being tested constantly, and assailed through the kind of fantasy life that was fueled, largely, by pornography.

JCD: Do you remember what pushed you over that edge? Do you remember the decision to “go for it”? Do you remember where you decided to throw caution to the wind?

Ted: It’s a very difficult thing to describe - the sensation of reaching that point where I knew I couldn’t control it anymore. The barriers I had learned as a child were not enough to hold me back from seeking out and harming somebody.

JCD: Would it be accurate to call that a sexual frenzy?

Ted: That’s one way to describe it - a compulsion, a building up of this destructive energy. Another fact I haven’t mentioned is the use of alcohol. In conjunction with my exposure to pornography, alcohol reduced my inhibitions and pornography eroded them further.

JCD: After you committed your first murder, what was the emotional effect? What happened in the days after that?

Ted: Even all these years later, it is difficult to talk about. Reliving it through talking about it is difficult to say the least, but I want you to understand what happened. It was like coming out of some horrible trance or dream. I can only liken it to (and I don’t want to overdramatize it) being possessed by something so awful and alien, and the next morning waking up and remembering what happened and realizing that in the eyes of the law, and certainly in the eyes of God, you’re responsible. To wake up in the morning and realize what I had done with a clear mind, with all my essential moral and ethical feelings intact, absolutely horrified me.

JCD: You hadn’t known you were capable of that before?

Ted: There is no way to describe the brutal urge to do that, and once it has been satisfied, or spent, and that energy level recedes, I became myself again. Basically, I was a normal person. Ted: I wasn’t some guy hanging out in bars, or a bum. I wasn’t a pervert in the sense that people look at somebody and say, “I know there’s something wrong with him.” I was a normal person. I had good friends. I led a normal life, except for this one, small but very potent and destructive segment that I kept very secret and close to myself. Those of us who have been so influenced by violence in the media, particularly pornographic violence, are not some kind of inherent monsters. We are your sons and husbands. We grew up in regular families. Pornography can reach in and snatch a kid out of any house today. It snatched me out of my home 20 or 30 years ago. As diligent as my parents were, and they were diligent in protecting their children, and as good a Christian home as we had, there is no protection against the kinds of influences that are loose in a society that tolerates....

JCD: Outside these walls, there are several hundred reporters that wanted to talk to you, and you asked me to come because you had something you wanted to say. You feel that hardcore pornography, and the door to it, softcore pornography, is doing untold damage to other people and causing other women to be abused and killed the way you did.

Ted:I’m no social scientist, and I don’t pretend to believe what John Q. Citizen thinks about this, but I’ve lived in prison for a long time now, and I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence. Without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography - deeply consumed by the addiction. The F.B.I.’s own study on serial homicide shows that the most common interest among serial killers is pornographers. It’s true.

JCD: What would your life have been like without that influence?

Ted:I know it would have been far better, not just for me, but for a lot of other people - victims and families. There’s no question that it would have been a better life. I’m absolutely certain it would not have involved this kind of violence.

JCD: If I were able to ask the kind of questions that are being asked, one would be, “Are you thinking about all those victims and their families that are so wounded? Years later, their lives aren’t normal. They will never be normal. Is there remorse?”

Ted:I know people will accuse me of being self-serving, but through God’s help, I have been able to come to the point, much too late, where I can feel the hurt and the pain I am responsible for. Yes. Absolutely! During the past few days, myself and a number of investigators have been talking about unsolved cases - murders I was involved in. It’s hard to talk about all these years later, because it revives all the terrible feelings and thoughts that I have steadfastly and diligently dealt with - I think successfully. It has been reopened and I have felt the pain and the horror of that.Note murders he was "involved" in; rather than committed. If you think, "Yes, absolutely!" is weak, this may show why. Note that it is hard to talk about, not because of the deaths of others, but because of his "feelings" and "thoughts" he has dealt with. "It has been reopened" is passive. This is very different than admitting the murders he committed and allowing them to be solved by telling the truth, rather than be reopened.

I hope that those who I have caused so much grief,even if they don’t believe my expression of sorrow, will believe what I’m saying now; there are those loose in their towns and communities, like me,He has caused "grief" to others, he wants them to believe his "expression of sorrow", not his "sorrow" whose dangerous impulses are being fueled, day in and day out, by violence in the media in its various forms - particularly sexualized violence. What scares me is when I see what’s on cable T.V. Some of the violence in the movies that come into homes today is stuff they wouldn’t show in X-rated adult theatres 30 years ago.Please note what he says about what scares him: it is not "what" he sees on cable TV, it is "when" he sees what's on. This indicates the above impulses are still triggering in him.

JCD: The slasher movies?

Ted:That is the most graphic violence on screen, especially when children are unattended or unaware that they could be a Ted Bundy; that they could have a predisposition to that kind of behavior.Note the distancing language from the movie by the word, "that"Note the recognition of what his own name means to the world. He uses his own name as a noun. This shows strong awareness of his persona.

JCD: One of the final murders you committed was 12-year-old Kimberly Leach. I think the public outcry is greater there because an innocent child was taken from a playground. What did you feel after that? Were they the normal emotions after that?

Here he is asked a direct question about a direct murder which gives Bundy the chance to tell the truth. By using his own persona as a celebrity, it all comes crashing down with the reality of the horror of his crime. He has gone from mystical "noun" for people to whisper about, to the actual, upclose killing of a child; a child who would not be part of his pornography or slasher movies.

Ted:I can’t really talk about that right now. Note that he qualifies with "really", indicating that he knows he can talk about it. "Right now": hours before his execution: there will not be time later, which he knows. This indicates he is more interested in perpetuating the myth of himself rather than the truth. It’s too painful. Note that he can't "really" talk about it (which he then does) because it is too painful for him. It is not about what he did, but his emotional comfort. I would like to be able to convey to you what that experience is like, but I won’t be able to talk about that.Perhaps Bundy was not expecting Dr. Dobson to ask such a direct question. To this point he has been given a platform to talk about himself and paint a portrait of a wonderful home life, but here, he employes distancing language from the reality: it comes down to the confrontation of truth and he doesn't want any part of it, so he distances himself even further:I can’t begin to understand the pain that the parents of these childrenI believe him. He "can't begin" to understand their pain because he does not care to. Please note that he was asked specifically about one 12 year old girl but responds with "these" (close) "children" (plural) which show:The memory of killing (plural) victims is close to him;While the specific killing of a 12 year old girl will not be addressed by him because he is protecting the myth of "Ted Bundy" and his message that any parent and any home can produce a Ted Bundy, no matter how "wonderful" the home is. He distanced himself from the 12 year old victim by avoiding the question, and using the plural, "children" and now he employs minimization language; and young women that I have harmed feel. He did more than "harm" them, he killed them. Yet, he only uses the softer "harmed" to describe his involvement. He is distant from his crimes and any empathy he might have for the victims' families. His words betray him and his inability to care for another human being. And I can’t restore much to them, if anything. He can't restore anything; not "much"; but here he continues to soften his crimes. I won’t pretend to, This is in the negative and very important. He won't "pretend to": yet, it is exactly what he is doing: he is pretending to have empathy, to portray himself as remorseful, but his language betrays him. and I don’t even expect them to forgive me.The additional word "even" is important: he is seeking to rehabilitate his name and brings forgiveness into the conversation, like a fisherman casting out a net, hoping for a catch: I’m not asking for it. Note present tense and presentation in the negative. This is very important to the subject: to appear in a positive light, even while protecting the myth of Ted Bundy (noun), so that he will be seen as a changed man. Is forgiveness close to him? Is it what he really wants, or is he just doing public relations work? His language betrays him:That kind of forgiveness is of God; if they have it, they have it, and if they don’t, maybe they’ll find it someday.Revealing the purpose of the interview. Not only does he enjoy his celebrity, and enjoy the character of killer "Ted Bundy", but he is so narcissistic that even hours before death, he seeks to portray to the world that he is a changed man. Yet "Ted Bundy" wants to still scare people. His memory of killings are is dear to him and he recalls it at will. He both loves frightening people (likely a sexual attraction for him) while, at the same time, wanting to rehabilitate his image. If he can convince the public that the perfect home life can produce Ted Bundy, than he can scare young parents, and give him the thrill, even while rehabilitating his reputation and taking the audience that this interview has given him, and portray himself in favorable light: a changed and Godly man who has seen the error of his ways. yet...His language has betrayed him.

JCD: Do you deserve the punishment the state has inflicted upon you?

The interviewer is a person of faith, of who's teaching is that one who takes the life of another in murder has forfeited his own right to life. This puts the subject in a difficult position: The claim is that the death penalty is of divine origin and the subject has granted this interview to a person of faith to portray himself as a new and changed man. To "confess" in Greek is to "agree", or to "homo legeo" ("homo" means same" and "logeo" from "logos" meaning to say or speak) with the divine authority. To "confess" one must agree with divinity about the nature of the crime and the punishment of the crime. The Apostle Paul, facing possible execution in Rome said that if he had done anything legally worthy, he would submit to the death penalty. From ancient times (the Exodus) until the New Testament, the death penalty was to be imposed when murder was committed. The subject has committed many such murders, yet he employed the word "harm" in a plural connection to his victims. If he says he deserves the punishment he can be seen as one who agrees with the authority of the state. Please note that the interviewer is using the language of the Bible when employing "state"; as it "bears the sword"; people of faith believe that the government is responsible to carry out this punishment:

Ted: That’s a very good question.

He avoids the question making it "sensitive" to him.

I don’t want to die;

Note that after the avoidance of a direct answer, he puts his own self first. This is the pattern of the subject. He puts himself first. He was aroused by the fear, pain and death of others: and not of his own self.

I won’t kid you.

I deserve, certainly, the most extreme punishment society has.

"certainly" indicates he wants you to accept that everyone thinks the same.Note that "the most extreme punishment society has" still avoids answering the question posed to him. His fate is not decidedly from the Bible, but society. Note that he "deserves" this. Where else does he use the word, "deserve"?

And I think society deserves to be protected from me and from others like me.

Please note that "think" is weakening the assertion. It is not something he plainly asserts, but only believes. His language confirms this:

That’s for sure.

Distancing language.

What I hope will come of our discussion is that I think society deserves to be protected from itself.

Note that this is not an interview, but a "discussion" and he is not simply the subject of the interview, but part of a "discussion" on parallel with Dr. Dobson. He has a "hope" that will come from this:"I think society deserves to be protected from itself. " He uses the same "deserve" used above. He puts himself in the center, as if this "discussion" would impact all of society who would then fulfill Ted Bundy's "hope"; as if we all exist to fulfill his hope. You may note from his language that he considers himself to be an important person, just as important as the Interview, Dr. James Dobson:

As we have been talking,

He is a perverted serial killer yet his language shows that he considers himself on par with a man who has achieved fame for helping families. He distances himself from his crimes as "a Ted Bundy" committed them, but is, instead, part of a group of "we" who are helping the country:

there are forces at loose in this country, especially this kind of violent pornography, where, on one hand, well-meaning people will condemn the behavior of a Ted Bundy while they’re walking past a magazine rack full of the very kinds of things that send young kids down the road to being Ted Bundys. That’s the irony.

He both enjoys the infamy while seeking to distance himself from the crimes of infamy, yet still wants to be considered an invaluable (and powerful) person to the nation.

I’m talking about going beyond retribution, which is what people want with me.

Recall that he wishes to reduce justice to only "retribution" which now reveals why he would not answer the question, which, in effect is this:You claim to be a man of God and it is God's own Wisdom that you should be put to death: Do you agree with God? The answer is "no" because he considers himself wiser than God.

There is no way in the world that killing me is going to restore those beautiful children to their parents and correct and soothe the pain.

The intention is not to "restore"; according to the BibleNote he now calls his victims "those" (distance) "beautiful children" of whom he mangled their beauty before taking their lives.

But there are lots of other kids playing in streets around the country today who are going to be dead tomorrow, and the next day, because other young people are reading and seeing the kinds of things that are available in the media today.

Ted Bundy calls those he killed: "beautiful children" but those who will be killed by someone else are only "kids"Note that the killers of these kids are "young people" (nothing harsher)

JCD: There is tremendous cynicism about you on the outside, I suppose, for good reason. I’m not sure there’s anything you could say that people would believe, yet you told me (and I have heard this through our mutual friend, John Tanner) that you have accepted the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and are a follower and believer in Him. Do you draw strength from that as you approach these final hours?

Follow the logic:He "accepted the forgiveness of Jesus Christ" which, according to Scripture, means confessing sin. To confess (see above), is to agree. This would warrant owning his own crimes; something he does not do. Nor, does the follower of Christ (the "Speech" or "Logos" Who exegeted God) honor Christ by submitting to Divine revealed will. Simply saying "I accept" doesn't make something genuine. Not all who say, "Lord, Lord...will enter the Kingdom of God. What does the Bible teach, specifically, about the repentance of Judas? What became of his prayers?

Ted: I do. I can’t say that being in the Valley of the Shadow of Death is something I’ve become all that accustomed to,

He did, however, require that his victims become "all that accustomed" the Valley of the Shadow of Death. note that he reports what he can't say (negative)

and that I’m strong and nothing’s bothering me. It’s no fun.

What does "fun" mean to his internal, personal, subjective dictionary is something we may not want to enter into.

It gets kind of lonely, yet I have to remind myself that every one of us will go through this someday in one way or another.

JCD: It’s appointed unto man.

Ted: Countless millions who have walked this earth before us have gone through this, so this is just an experience we all share.

Ted Bundy was executed at 7:15 am the day after this conversation was recorded.

Ted Bundy may have claimed to have been a new person before he died, but his language showed narcissistic self importance of one who still refused to acknowledge his evil committed on the earth, nor the justice of the sentence pronounced upon him.

39 comments:

DETECTIVES hunting missing five-year-old April Jones yesterday arrested a friend of her family. Mechanic Mark Bridger, 46, was held in Machynlleth, Mid Wales, as April’s parents pleaded for help in bringing her safely home.

Cops today released a photograph of Bridger and a picture of his Land Rover Discovery.

They said they wanted help in tracing Bridger's movements between 5pm on Monday and 3.30pm yesterday when he was arrested.

Officers will continue to question the suspect throughout the day and are said to be confident of receiving useful information from him that will assist in finding April.

Det Supt Reg Bevan, said: "We are pursuing a number of lines of enquiry, one of those is Mark Bridger."

He added: "We are in the process of piecing together his movements and that of the vehicle from around 5pm on Monday evening through to 3.30pm Tuesday afternoon when Mark Bridger was arrested.

“He was arrested on the A487 just north of the Dyfi Bridge, walking in the direction of Machynlleth, and he was wearing a camouflage green jacket, black waterproof overtrousers and camouflage trousers beneath those.

“The Land Rover Discovery was recovered from a repair garage in the Old Station Road area of Machynlleth on Tuesday afternoon.”

Dad Paul Jones and mum Coral Smith also begged her abductor: “Please, please — if you have our little girl, let her come home to us.”

They added: “We are devastated and our lives have stopped.”

April's mum and dad are due to speak at another press conference scheduled for 12.30pm.

April is thought to have got in a vehicle at 7.30 on Monday night while playing near her home.

Police said Bridger is known to her family but is not a relative.

They revealed they had to seed legal advice before circulating the picture of Bridger.

Sources said the father of two was a close friend and “almost part of the family”.

One of his children was said to have been playing with April when she disappeared.

Police said she got into the van or Land-Rover willingly and there was “nothing to suggest there was a struggle”.

Today hundreds of volunteers searching for kidnapped April Jones were asked today to stay at home and leave the hunt to professionals.

Mountain rescue teams and dog handlers helped 40 police officers as search efforts continued through the night around Machynlleth.

A hovercraft was also called in to scour the River Dyfi.

Dyfed Powys Police said the difficult terrain was made more hazardous by flooding and they feared for people's safety with more rain on the way.

Superintendent Ian John said at an early morning press conference: "The River Dyfi is in flood and we really do need to manage the risk of everybody there.

"So what I am asking really is, notwithstanding the great support and the commitment that people want to show in helping us to find April, can we please leave this now to the trained and skilled people that we have.

"I don't want those officers to be distracted by the well-intentioned and enthusiastic support."

Labour leader Ed Miliband told BBC1’s Breakfast programme today: “My heart goes out to the family of April Jones and obviously I hope there can be a successful outcome to the search for her.”

The pink and purple bike that April loved to play on lay outside her home last night.

Coral and Paul’s statement, made through cops, also said: “Our lives were shattered when our beautiful little girl April, who was playing with friends, was taken from us.

“We are devastated and our lives have stopped. This is such a small, close-knit community and we plead with anyone who has any information, no matter how small they may think it is, to contact the police immediately.

Bridger, said by an ex-neighbour to be a friend of April’s father, was held at around 3.30pm yesterday while on foot on the A487 road north out of Machynlleth. His empty vehicle was quickly recovered, police said.

Forensic officers last night continued to examine the motor.

The hunt was being concentrated on the nearby River Dyfi last night. A local said: “We’ve heard tyre marks were found on the river bank at a spot where vehicles don’t normally go.

Bridger is a former soldier and jack-of-all-trades, whose jobs included lifeguard, slaughterhouse worker and gardener. He also played for local darts and cricket teams.

A regular in the town’s Red Lion pub said: “He’s an outgoing character who has not been in trouble as far as we know.”

Police said last night they were still hopeful of finding April alive.

Her disappearance triggered a massive search operation. More than 200 volunteers, 40 cops and 40 mountain rescue specialists, were working around the clock to find her.

Two helicopters with heat-seeking sensors were called in. Police closed off a 12-mile stretch of the busy A487 yesterday as the hunt continued into the night and villagers held a candle-lit vigil for the missing girl.

Support poured in for Paul, 43, and shop worker Coral, 40, April’s sister Jasmine, 16, and her brother Harley, ten.

Det Supt Reg Bevan of Dyfed Powys Police said an arrest was made in the Machynlleth area and a man was being questioned in nearby Aberystwyth. He added: “We made the arrest just outside Machynlleth and are hopeful that this individual will assist us in locating April, who is still missing.

“We are still pursuing all lines of inquiry with a view that April is still alive and we will continue to do so until we find her. At this stage the vehicle in our possession is similar to the description given by the children.”

It is believed Bridger was known to police and his name was linked with the inquiry at an early stage.

He has two children living on the estate where April disappeared — by Elaine Dafydd, 42, who lives near April’s family. She also has a younger daughter Erin, five, from a new relationship.

Neighbours of Vicky Fenner, who lives on the same Byn-y-Gog estate, said she used to go out with Bridger but they split last week.

Cops confirmed they had been investigating known sex offenders in the area.

Superintendent Ian John said earlier: “For the family, as you would imagine, it must be their worst nightmare. It’s a very, very difficult time for them.”

Gwenfair Glyn, headteacher at the local primary school, said: “It’s a very hard time for us all here. Our thoughts are with April’s family. April’s a very bubbly and valued member of school. She’s a very popular little girl. It’s a very difficult time. We are such a close community here in Machynlleth.

“Most of the children know about April and what has happened, but it is hard with the little ones, who don’t understand.”

Gareth Jones, the town’s mayor, said: “We are all rallying together to hopefully get April back safe and sound to her family.

“The effort has been remarkable and not unexpected. There’s only a population of 2,500 in this area but within a matter of a short space of time there were hundreds of people to lend assistance and support to the emergency services.

“April could be anywhere, so we need people keeping an eye out and reporting anything that might be of interest to police.”

Councillor Michael Williams, who lives on the same estate as April’s family, said it was “a terrible time for everyone”. He added: “The town feels devastated and shocked.

“The family is hugely respected here. People are hoping and praying this little girl will be found safe and returned to her parents and the community where she is so much loved.” Neighbour Gwyn Briwnant-Jones, 55, said April came from a loving home and “most of the town” was out looking for her.

Judy Price, 56, who lives near the missing girl’s family, said: “April is a lovely little thing, always smiling and from a very good and caring home.

“It makes me feel sick to think where she could be now.”

Earlier yesterday, Superintendent John said April’s best friend on the estate was helping the investigation.”

He added: “Specialist officers trained to deal with children are slowly interviewing the young girl.”

Police are also investigating whether a failed abduction attempt in the Aberystwyth area a fortnight ago is linked to April’s disappearance.

Kate and Gerry McCann, both 44, whose daughter Madeleine disappeared in May 2007, said last night: “Our thoughts and prayers are with April, her family and the local community.”

Was there physical abuse or fighting elsewhere outside the home.Was there sexual abuse or emotional abuse i wonder since he only says physical abuse.What is his definition of physical abuse since it is different to fighting.Who would he fight with and what about?

"My parents did not drink or smoke or gamble. There was no physical abuse or fighting in the home."

1. Can a person be evil without drinking, smoking or gambling? He does not speak of an absence of perversion.2. How does he define physical abuse? Would harsh punishment not be considered 'abuse'?3. Was there sexual abuse? Emotional abuse? Verbal abuse?4. There is no mention of LOVE.

I’m not saying it was “Leave it to Beaver”, but it was a fine, solid Christian home.

How does he define "fine, solid Christian home" ? He expects us to fill in the blanks with our own picture of whatever a "fine, solid Christian home" may be to us.

"As a young boy of 12 or 13, I encountered, outside the home, in the local grocery and drug stores, softcore pornography."

He claims to have found softcore porn in the local grocery and drug stores. He emphasizes that this was "outside the home." (Why is it important to him that people feel his home was not the source of his psychopathy? Maybe he wants all the credit himself?)

"encountered" is distancing; he does not own actively looking for these things.

He may have found these things at local stores, but he is implying that this is where his problem began without having said so- I suspect his problem began much earlier and he was drawn to porn because of it.

"Young boys explore the sideways and byways of their neighborhoods, and in our neighborhood, people would dump the garbage. From time to time, we would come across books of a harder nature - more graphic."

"Young boys" "explore" and in his neighborhood people would dump the garbage- he has not actually connected these two actions.

"People" would dump the garbage hides the identity of someone who regularly had porn in their garbage.

"We" would "come across" "books"

He distances, again, actively looking for material to feed his obsession and tries to portray that all young boys 'come across' such material in the course of their normal activities. Who else was a part of this "we"?

Seriously, how many "people" were discarding "books" of a "harder nature" in their trash in his town? What is the likelihood of finding hardcore porn books in peoples' garbage on a regular basis?

One does not spend hours searching through other peoples' garbage cans on the off-chance of finding porn to look at unless one 1. is seriously obsessed with porn and 2. has a pretty good idea whose garbage to look in and when. I wonder if it was his own family's garbage that supplied him with this material?

"I was dealing with very strong inhibitions against criminal and violent behavior. That had been conditioned and bred into me from my neighborhood, environment, church, and schools.I knew it was wrong to think about it, and certainly, to do it was wrong. I was on the edge, and the last vestiges of restraint were being tested constantly, and assailed through the kind of fantasy life that was fueled, largely, by pornography."

"Inhibitions" is an unexpected word to use for rules or expectations; it implies that the impulses were there and were being 'inhibited'. He had the criminal and violent impulses and had been "inhibited" from acting them out until he was old enough to do as he pleased.

"Certainly" to do it was wrong; he does not personally believe to do it was wrong.

Fueled "largely" by pornography- what else were his urges 'fueled' by?

"I became myself again. Basically, I was a normal person."

He was "not himself" when he committed crimes. He "became himself" when he was not committing crimes. He is describing taking on the persona of a "normal" person.

"Basically" I was a normal person- he was not a normal person.

"I wasn’t some guy hanging out in bars, or a bum. I wasn’t a pervert in the sense that people look at somebody and say, “I know there’s something wrong with him.” I was a normal person. I had good friends. I led a normal life, except for this one, small but very potent and destructive segment that I kept very secret and close to myself. Those of us who have been so influenced by violence in the media, particularly pornographic violence, are not some kind of inherent monsters."

He is describing his psychopathy- he appeared 'normal' while there was a very potent and destructive segment which he kept very secret and close to himself.

Again, he describes "normal" as things one does not do- hang out in bars, be a bum, be obviously disturbed so others can immediately see it.

"That is the most graphic violence on screen, especially when children are unattended or unaware that they could be a Ted Bundy; that they could have a predisposition to that kind of behavior."

Here he admits that he had a predisposition to "that" kind of behavior; one must be a "Ted Bundy" to respond to graphic violence in the way that he did.

"Countless millions who have walked this earth before us have gone through this, so this is just an experience we all share."

I suppose he saw his victims as just a few of the "countless millions" who had to go through death anyway.

This interview would have been an excellent and final opportunity for Bundy to express remorse, say he was sorry for murdering his victims and beg forgiveness from their families. That is what I would expect from a killer, turned repentant Christian. Instead he has an agenda to blame pornography and use it as mitigation for his crimes.

If the words "I'm sorry" are telling in a 911 call, would their absence be equally telling in dying declaration? Both 911 calls and dying declarations can be admitted into court, and bypass the usual rules of evidence, based upon the presumption that a person who believes that death is imminent will not lie. I question the validity of that presumption in this situation; it seems that Bundy's primary purpose is to perpetuate his image and minimize his culpability.

This interview brought something else back to me from Foster Cline's book on RAD, which the article about Pete Townshend had reminded me of- I remember Cline mentioning this interview and he felt that Bundy had played Dobson for a fool.

Dobson did a lot of speaking for Bundy in this interview and helped him promote the view he wanted to present.

I agree that pornography is harmful. It's a strange day when Dr. Dobson and Ted Bundy agree on a topic. The interview read like an anti-pornography PSA, rather than journalism. I have listened to Dr. Dobson many times on the radio and he usually is probative and insightful. Maybe he was so eager to document Bundy's statements about the dangers of pornography that he was not as observant as usual about the moral implications.

LisOctober 3, 2012 10:45 AM"My parents did not drink or smoke or gamble. There was no physical abuse or fighting in the home."

1. Can a person be evil without drinking, smoking or gambling? He does not speak of an absence of perversion.2. How does he define physical abuse? Would harsh punishment not be considered 'abuse'?3. Was there sexual abuse? Emotional abuse? Verbal abuse?4. There is no mention of LOVE.>>

Great points, Liz.

We need to enter his personal, internal subjective dictionary, recognizing that a serial killer is going to define "physical abuse" for us! Imagine his reference point?

No, he was not a changed man and told Dobson that pornography was his downfall so he could gain sympathy and, at the same time, tell Dobson what he wanted to hear.

Telling others what they WANT to hear had always been Bundy's way of gaining trust. He gained the trust of politicians, enough to gasbag his way into law school.

Dressing the part of a wealthy man about town was a way of Bundy telling women what they wanted to see and hear. That's how he reeled them in.

It sounds as if he was simply born this way according to what an aunt had to say: woke up to find he had placed kitchen knives around her while she slept.

His grandfather may have been a bigot and tyrant, which could have had something to do with young Bundy's thinking, but not all.

Finding porn in those days was probably easy. Depending on the type of businesses in his neighborhood or nearby, type of politics in the area, considering the general overall view of a woman's worth...yeah, easy. Perhaps this is why the generation of the late '0s and early '70s weren't all they were made out to be.

Not to dismiss it by any means, but we all know (or should) by now the inherent dangers of porn to the young man, including older men; but I wonder more about what his reactions were when he learned that the sister he thought was his sister turned out to be his mother? At what age did he learn this and how?

This could have an earth shattering affect on a young boy/teen who might have longed to have a real mothers love in his tender years, now he learns that she was sitting there all along pretending to be his sister, while his grandmother has pretended all those years to be his mother, while his grandfather who chastised him and was his disciplinarian falsely played the part of daddy. Think how devastating all this could be. But this is skimmed over by Dobson.

I don't care how christian like his family claimed to be or how divinely they lived; that right there is being dishonest and living a lie that was practiced by his entire family. Couple this with the early porn he had already become addicted too and you might find a very fragile situation ripe to explode, including turning sour on christianity and everything his 'parents' believed in. Together these issues could lead him to rebel against everything he'd ever been taught and make him want to do just the opposite.

Then there's the genes, who was his REAL father? Something he would never know since his 'mother' (which one?) wasn't honest enough to tell him. He couldn't even pursue his search for his real father. He continues his searches for and reads the filthy and degrading porn and believes that this is all women are good for and despises them. 'kill the b'tches, they all need to be dead'. All together, it could produce a very angry young man who finds the kill relaxing to his troubled mind and enjoyable everytime he got another one. What would it matter to him if a man happens to get in the way of his goal. Unlucky for him, it's the women he's after.

The very least he could have done in the end was to apologize and beg forgiveness from all his victims and their families and friends and the lifelong pain he had caused them, without looking for excuses and blame for what he had done, and could have said he deserved to die; which he did and should have said so.

BTW, where's his wonderful family now? I wonder how they feel now, knowing what they produced with their deceitful lives?

This isn't Dr. James Dobson, is it?? This interviewer is terrible. Asking multiple questions and letting Bundy get away with answering in the plural. It's unreadable, this BS propaganda. I'm not blaming porn, really. I'm blaming porn AND alcohol. No, no I'm not. It's all on me. I did it. But I'm just saying, society deserves to be protect from itself, b/c really, I'm blaming porn and alcohol. I wouldn't kid you, and I wouldn't, but I will lie, and I'm hoping you don't actually see me blaming porn and alcohol.Pineapple

Ted Bundy's Lawyer has written a book, he says: "The most horrifying thing however, was that unlike other sociopaths who do not understand right and wrong, Bundy knew what he was doing. Most sociopaths never admit they’re evil at all, Ted really knew he was evil. Evil, evil, evil. And, believe me, really evil."

Biographer Ann Rule described him as "a sadistic sociopath who took pleasure from another human's pain and the control he had over his victims, to the point of death, and even after." Attorney Polly Nelson, a member of his last defense team, said "Ted was the very definition of heartless evil."

He often revisited his crime scenes to engage in acts of necrophilia. He took Polaroid photos of many of his victims. "When you work hard to do something right, you don't want to forget it." he once said.

"Sometimes he manipulates even me," admitted one psychiatrist.

Wiki: "He deflected blame onto a wide variety of scapegoats, including his abusive grandfather, the absence of his biological father, the concealment of his true parentage, alcohol, the media, the police (whom he accused of planting evidence), "society" in general, violence on television, and ultimately, true crime periodicals and pornography. On at least one occasion he even tried to blame his victims: "I have known people who radiate vulnerability. Their facial expressions say 'I am afraid of you.' These people invite abuse. By expecting to be hurt, do they subtly encourage it?"

Or in other words, don't believe a word of this self-serving diatribe Bundy dished out in a last gasp effort to avoid death. He could have avoided the death penalty at several points in his prosecution by taking responsibility and expressing remorse. He would not accept the blame. Realizing that with the clock ticking down he had no chance now to con people into believing he was now suddenly sorry for his crimes, he instead put his manipulative skill to one final attempt to sway opinion, obtain a protest on his behalf, and ultimately to receive a stay of execution. He failed.

He told quite a few biographers that he never viewed pornography or read true crime magazines. This interview is all lies, lies, lies. Ted Bundy killed because he loved to kill.

Ted Bundy possessed the supreme ability to manipulate. Pair that with his insatiable desire to kill and you have got the Perfect Storm Serial Killer. Hungering murderous instinct, cunning charm, and no moral compass. Killing brought him pleasure and excitement. The hunt heightened this perversity.

Let's not forget that "He decapitated at least 12 victims and kept some of the severed heads in his apartment for a period of time as mementos"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy

and

"In the end, he had admitted to thirty-six killings, but experts believe that the final tally may be closer to one hundred."http://www.biography.com/people/ted-bundy-9231165?page=2

He was evil, and he liked it. What got me was how he received fan letters from women, even managing to marry one and have a child with her--on Death Row! How the (expletive) does that happen? Did these women think they could fix him? Or was it more like, they could get a thrill out of corresponding with a serial killer and admire him from afar, knowing they'd never have to actually live with him? (Okay, maybe "live" is a bad choice of words.)Amaleen6

Yes it was Dr. James Dobson. Im not sure however if the excerpt here is from the original or a compressed interview. I've read the original and I dont remember it reading like this. I may be wrong however.

My personal opinion is, even all of those things together cannot produce a person who finds pleasure in torturing and killing. I believe that comes only from very early abuse and neglect. Possibly some sort of genetic or physical damage to the brain is involved, also, but not necessarily.

Ted Bundy was always different with a warped personalty .He admits it in this interveiw saying Barriers he had since childhood came down when he comenced murdering women.You use barriers to suppress thoughts an emotions .He had thease barriers up as a child so long before his exposure to pornography he was already set on course to deviancy.

I am Norwegian, and here the mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik claims he had a fantastic childhood with a loving mother. The truth is quite the opposite, as he was abused and raised by a mentally ill woman without any motherly skills.

Why is it that Bundy and Breivik wants us to believe they had a perfect life, when in fact, they could have put the blame (in their head) on their upbringing?

I think in this interview Bundy admits to the murder of the little girl when he was 15 yrs old. He states that he got into pornographic material when he was 12-13 yrs old. Then when the sexual fantasies could no longer be restrained he acted out on them a couple of years later. It was during this time that a little girl who was a student with him in piano classes came up missing. He would have been 15 yrs old at the time. In the interview Bundy also attempts to show remorse for his actions but if u pause the video when asked about the last know murder that he committed u will notice a smile on his face. Bundy replied that he "just couldn't talk about that". Bundy also closes his eyes everytime Dr. Dobson asks Bundy directly about the killings. I believe this was an indicator of Bundy reliving the moments of the murder in his mind, just as he did when he attempted to represent himself in court.

Thebroadcast, I thought I was the only one that saw that. He smiles through the entire interview!!!Why doesn't anyone talk about that? He was relishing in his memories while pretending to be remorseful.

I have the old VHS video of this interview and the introduction by Dr Dobson is important as well and I don't think this is on the YouTube version either.

How I see it is that this interview is very much a least & last "good" thing he could do with his life by warning of the dangers of pornography. This was the REAL MISSION of this interview.

This is party why it seems he is diverting blame to something else. Remember that he would of being diverting blame all his criminal life to be able to cope in some way & so his choice of words is affected by that even now I suspect.

Also I think someone who has done all this could almost never come to terms with the remorse completely in a life time. He hints at this at the start with the statement "..or have come to terms with"

He is also trying to protect his family from blame as well....but I sure can't imagine it was normal, for someone to end up like this, just one more factor in the sad story.

The comments on this blog about closing his eyes & smiling etc, come on, this is just a protective tool, because he can't really come to terms with the horror of what he has really done. I think he had only just begun to be truly remorseful for his actions.

I agree with all of the comments here. Ted was not remorseful for his crimes at all. When he says there are kids out there who will grow up to be Ted Bundys, he is trying to perpetuate violence using his own name. Ted was very aware of his superstar persona and influence in the media. This was sloppy on Teds part and it is very easy to see through him, usually he was a lot more convincing than this. Ted was very weary, physically drained, and losing composure at this point. Many times he closed his eyes so the interviewer could not read his expression. His words betray at several points, usually he was more cunning in interviews. I have to say that overall this interview was a very pathetic attempt on Teds part to avoid the electric chair. Ted did not want to die but sent many others that way by his own hand. By saying that millions have died before him he is trying to soften his crimes by in essence saying"well, we all die anyways, so what is the big deal?"Unfortunate that Ted could not admit his guilt, even in the end. So much death and tragedy followed in Teds wake, ending with the final death of himself. It is impossible for me to comprehend how a man could be so monstrous and cruel, and remain so indifferent to his own cruelty. He was a pure psychopath, a force of nature. Does society create these people or do they create themselves? Guess we will never really know, I do not think even Ted really knew what he was, it was all surface and there was simply nothing on the inside only a black hole that sucked in other peoples pain in order to feel alive.

People here have the typical self righteous attitude. Do you think, him crying out or him pleading for forgiveness would have made a difference? At this point, Ted Bundy only had a few hours to live.

I have an important question. In times of emotional highs (during sex, being extremely angry, engrossed in porn, being drunk). Can you think clearly or logically? Under a certain circumstance, I dare say any of us can be murderers, adulterers, rapists etc. After all Ted Bundy is also a human like us. I wanted to point that out because people here seem to put themselves on such high moral grounds as if they had different genes or they were a more highly evolved being.

Remember, all of us are humans and all get emotionally "high". People in such circumstances are not in full control. There are demonic entities that can take over(read more on Demons/Asmodeus/Satan/Lucifer). The things you can do under their influence is beyond your imagination.

Back to the interview, Ted Bundy made his final remorse by warning society about the evil of porn. For example: In the middle of doing chores, do you find yourself suddenly browsing porn because of glancing on something seductive on TV? People would be doing things, they weren't supposed to do because of porn. Many events have changed because of this perceived simple "porn". Porn is part of an ultimate evil, called Addiction. Addiction could be anything (drugs, gambling, killing, sex, food etc.). This "addiction" is used by evil forces to imprison us & prevents us from realizing our ultimate potential of enlightenment.

But can we do something about this? First step is acknowledging that we have a problem. Then we should seek advise form doctors/psychiatrists. Finally, we have to act on it. If we have to undergo therapy, rehab, medical treatment to remove these addictions then we have to exhaust all possible resources to be rid of this evil.

There's no use in beating a dead horse (Ted Bundy). As a Christian, I think Ted Bundy was given time to repent. Imagine, one of the worst criminals in history still given a privilege. This only speaks about God's infinite mercy. The gestures that Ted Bundy had during the interview do not expose what was truly in his heart. May we not be blinded by hatred & instead, may we heed the warning & take it to heart. I will pray for all of our enlightenment.

To the christian commentor Anonymous : What is wrong with you? Everyone here can see through his lies and attempts at manipulation, even till the final hours before his death. I don't read, not even between the lines, true repentance in the heart of this man. Nobody's blinded by hatred, just appalled by the nerves!!

Have you stopped to think about what he has done? You talk about some emotional highs? Are you saying that he didn't know what he was doing or he couldn't help himself because of his emotional highs? Do you normally think of mercilessly butchering someone when you are at the height of anger? There is no logic in your argument. You're just pathetically trying to defend him, putting on a saintly facade. Don't pretend you are giving glory to God you hypocrite. Don't you dare use His holy name in vain.

Your way of thinking is the reason why murderers get away from the ultimate capital punishments they deserve but instead enjoy an extended stay at a 'treatment facility'. God is a God of mercy and love, true, (and if we truly repent of our sins and believe on His Son Jesus Christ for our salvation He will save us from the penalty of our sins(hellfire)), but He is also JUST. The bible says that "..God is angry with the wicked every day." and Jesus said regarding God: "Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell" Wake up and smell the coffee christian. God is loving and merciful to those who repent of their sins. He gave this guy a whole lotta time to repent. (It's a kind of mercy and grace that human beings cannot fathom or comprehend. ) After all, Christ died for even scum of the earth like Ted Bundy (for God is not a respecter of persons ..and is not willing that any should perish). Instead, here was a man who was self righteous to the end, and did not hold himself accountable. He neither gave thanks for salvation through God's Son, nor acknowledged that he himself was at fault for his actions. He even spit on the image of the Christian home. He basically said (lied), it doesn't matter if you grow up in a 'wonderful Christian home', you're still gonna become evil incarnate. He breathed the devil's lies to the end and gave absolutely no testimony of any changes of a repentant sinner. I highly doubt he truly converted. He was afraid to die because deep down inside he knew this, and he knew that judgment awaited.

Oh and chances are, if he had begged for the forgiveness of the families of his victims, they may have been able to have some closure. It would have made a world of difference.

I have read some of the comments here and found them to be extremely enlightening.

I've seen the interview and at times and found myself taken in by Ted's act - he's so convincing. At the end tho I was left scratching my head as to his coming to Christ - it seemed to me so perfunctory, an afterthought.

You guys realize that this is just another deflective defense mechanism that are textbooks amongst antisocial sociopaths. He ONLY manipulates. There is no 'real' Ted Bundy other than the monster who killed those girls. He is almost unique in that way. Very few serial killers or sociopaths in general possess such a severe lack of personal depth and can still retain such a believable guise of normality. I have been reading about Ted for a while now, watching his interviews and such, and still he sometimes convinces me. Thats exactly how he plead innocent to these crimes for nearly a decade. He is a true, perfect psychopath; utterly devoid of all emotions, yet able to fabricate them perfectly when needed. This last interview is his way of manipulating you and making you agree with him even after he's dead.

IMO the exact diagnosis would be severe narcissistic ASPD and an extremely high IQ: a deadly combination.

Anon: " Under a certain circumstance, I dare say any of us can be murderers, adulterers, rapists etc. After all Ted Bundy is also a human like us."

Whoa there, Anon! Since I have a brain, soul, conscience, all the above would be CHOICES I would make and I would NOT CHOOSE ANY of those. Don't lump Ted in with me as a "human being"

Something evil rode Ted out of the womb. That's it. That's the explanation. Sometimes there is no explanation that would churn out Ted other than EVIL. Born Evil, Lived Evil, Died Evil. Anything he ever did was to feed the beast. Nothing there..empty, void of anything that resembled a human being except skin. "There are more things in heaven and earth than we could ever dream of" and sometimes you just have to accept that something (for lack of a better word) supernatural has occurred. Something was in him alright, but it wasn't Christ.